Yankees' Rivera Announces Retirement

TAMPA, Fla.—Yankees reliever Mariano Rivera, considered the greatest closer of all time, officially announced at a news conference Saturday what many had long expected: 2013 will be his final season.

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Mariano Rivera on Saturday
Reuters

As he took his seat at the dais, he smiled as he saw his longtime teammates and friends, Derek Jeter and Andy Pettitte, enter the room in full pinstriped uniform. Then his smile grew as he saw that the two veterans were leading a procession of every Yankee in spring training, young and old, minor leaguers and 20-year vets.

The entire team crammed into the side of the room, as Rivera, he later said, nearly broke down in tears.

"I would love to tell you guys that after this year, I will be retired. I'm retiring from the game that I love, that I have passion for and have enjoyed for so many years," Rivera said.

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Baseball's all-time saves leader will step aside with his skills intact but his desire waning. Rivera said that the mental grind of preparation, travel, and being away from his family has become too much for him.

"I have given everything and the time is almost ending. The thing that I have, the little gas I have left is everything for this year. After that, I'll empty everything. There's nothing left," Rivera said.

Rivera heads into his final year with statistics that place him above every other reliever—and most pitchers—in baseball history. His career 2.21 ERA is unmatched in modern times, and his strikeout, walk, and home-run rates are as good or better than any pitcher, ever. His 608 career saves are a record, and by advanced metrics, his production looks even better. His regular-season greatness is exceeded by only his remarkable postseason numbers, where his 42 saves, 0.70 ERA, and 0.759 WHIP were essential in carrying the Yankees to five World Series titles.

"He's irreplaceable. He is the greatest of all time," said general manager Brian Cashman, who had to talk then-team owner George Steinbrenner out of trading a young Rivera in the 1990s.

Rivera is coming off a season-ending knee injury, suffered during batting practice in Kansas City May 4. He said Saturday that he would have retired after last season if he had not hurt himself but that he would not let the image of his crumpled body curled up on an outfield warning track be his final scene.

"If I would have finished the season last year, I would have retired last year. Definitely. I didn't want to leave like that," Rivera said.

Instead, Rivera arrived at spring training quietly confident that this would be his final season. He went to each of his longtime teammates one by one, and told them of his plans. They had heard this spiel before, but this time they knew it was real.

"Mo has been saying he's going to retire, seriously, for a good five years. But I knew he was serious," Jeter said.

Jeter and Pettitte were afforded seats near team owner Hal Steinbrenner, while the rest of the team stood behind them. After 20 years in professional baseball alongside Rivera and Jorge Posada as members of the "Core Four" that were the key to so much Yankee success, Pettitte and Jeter both stressed how odd and empty it will be to see the Yankees without Rivera.

"There's no doubt it's going to be sad, because you're not going to see him put the uniform on anymore after this season," Pettitte said. "If you're a New York Yankee fan, he's went out there an awful lot of times and made it look easy. We've been able to have so much success over the past few decades because of him, and what he's been able to do is incredible."

Rivera still has one more year on the mound, and it's likely to be a farewell tour on par with anything baseball has ever seen. There are sure to be presentations and moments in his honor, which Rivera said he would try his best to embrace. Meanwhile, Rivera must prove that he can return from his knee injury without missing a beat and help the injury-ravaged Yankees try to reach the playoffs.

Coincidentally, Saturday marked Rivera's first appearance in a game of any sort since the surgery last year. He took the mound to thunderous applause, induced a pop-up from the first batter, and then struck out the next two men looking, walking off the mound to another standing ovation, the first two of what are sure to be dozens this year.

Rivera said he would try to savor them all. He is walking away on his own terms, as the greatest closer in baseball history, with no regrets.

"I'm not sad, to tell you the truth. I'm just happy that I was able to do this thing again. I don't want no one, fans or no members of my family, to be sad," he said.

"It's not so easy when you come to a decision like this, but I would love to say that it has been a privilege and honor to wear the pinstriped uniform that I have proudly worn for so many years in good times, great times. It has been wonderful," Rivera said.

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